On Tuesday night, Cody Bellinger gave the Yankees life. A day later, he repeated the feat.
With Aaron Judge sidelined, there’s no debate over the most valuable Yankees position player.
Bellinger already was enjoying a strong first season in The Bronx. Lately, he’s taken it up a notch.
His RBI triple pulled them even with one out in the 10th, and Ryan McMahon’s fly ball single an inning later sent the Yankees to a dramatic 5-4 win over the Rays in a wild, back-and-fourth game in The Bronx.
“We talk about, obviously, Judgey being MVP, and rightfully so, but we’re going to get to the end of the year, and Cody Bellinger is going to be on that list,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees rallied from deficits in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings. “I don’t know where he’s going to fall, but he’s played that well.”
These past two wins over the floundering Rays have not come easily.
The Yankees had to rally from three runs down Tuesday, and they managed just two hits over the first seven innings Wednesday.
But clutch hits by Bellinger and Anthony Volpe — his ninth-inning homer forced extra innings — along with a strong start by Will Warren were enough Wednesday.
A smiling Ryan McMahon (left) is mobbed by teammates after hitting the game-winning single in the 11th inning of the Yankees’ 5-4 win over the Rays on Jan. 30, 2025.Robert Sabo / New York Post
Tim Hill, pressed into duty despite it being an expected day off for the heavily used reliever, worked a scoreless 11th for the victory.
The Rays intentionally walked Jasson Domínguez to set up a potential double play.
McMahon was called on to bunt, but Rays reliever Kevin Kelly balked the potential winning run to third, and McMahon ended it there.
Ryan McMahon watches his game-winning single in the 11th inning of the Yankees’ win over the Rays.Robert Sabo / New York Post
“I felt good about doing it,” McMahon said of the bunt. “Like I’ve said when I first got here, I’ll do whatever they ask me to do.”
The Yankees improved to 6-6 since the All-Star break, as they try to snap out of their extended malaise.
This was a feel-good day for them.
Cody Bellinger hits an RBI triple in the 10th inning of the Yankees-Rays game.AP
Pregame, Judge fielded balls in the outfield as he works his way back from a right elbow flexor strain, and Boone said Luis Gil came through his final rehab start without a hitch.
The day, however, was not without negatives.
Volpe committed his third error in two games and leads all of baseball with 16.
Austin Wells gets thrown out in a rundown in the ninth inning after mistakenly already thinking there were three outs.Robert Sabo / New York Post
Devin Williams blew his first save since April 25, serving up a two-run Josh Lowe homer in the ninth.
Austin Wells lost track of how many outs there were in the bottom of the frame, costing the Yankees a chance at avoiding extra innings.
With Wells on first, Trent Grisham nearly beat out a bunt. Wells didn’t realize Grisham was just the second out and was tagged out coming off the field in a stunning moment.
Anthony Volpe hits a solo home run in the 11th inning of the Yankees’ win over the Rays.Jason Szenes / New York Post
“Obviously, [it] can’t happen,” Boone said.
Said Wells: “Very embarrassed and disappointed for sure. You let the guys down when you do that. You give away an out like that in a big spot.”
In the 10th, Luke Weaver allowed the automatic runner to score on a Jonathan Aranda sacrifice fly.
Josh Lowe celebrates with teammates after hitting a two-run homer in the ninth inning of the Yankees-Rays game.Jason Szenes / New York Post
The damage could’ve been much worse.
The bases were loaded, and Domínguez made the catch up against the left-field fence.
Bellinger answered with his run-scoring triple, but he was left stranded by Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Giancarlo Stanton hits an RBI single in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ win over the Rays.AP
Over the first seven innings, the Yankees managed just two hits, both off Rays starter Zack Littell, who pitched five scoreless innings, then found out he was being traded.
The three-team deal was not official at press time, but an agreement to send the righty starter to the Reds was being finalized as Cincinnati appears to be going all in at the trade deadline.
The Yankees bats got going in the eighth, when Grisham homered to lead off the frame and Stanton plated Ben Rice with the go-ahead run in a rally off Rays reliever Bryan Baker.
Yankees starter Will Warren, who received a no-decision, held the Rays to one run over six innings.Jason Szenes / New York Post
Warren received a hard-luck no decision after delivering six innings of one-run ball.
The Rays struck first in the third, when Lowe plated Taylor Walls with a two-out, run-scoring double.
That was all Warren allowed.
The young right-hander, who had struggled of late with a 6.29 ERA in five July starts, made it through six innings for the first time since June 22.
He allowed six hits, struck out four and walked only one while tying a season high with 102 pitches.
Finally, in the eighth, the bats woke up. Even when the pitching let them down, the Yankees kept on coming.
“It’s a huge win,” Bellinger said. “So many people to give credit to in this game. Wins come in a bunch of different ways, and this was a good one.”
